DYSFUNCTIONAL ATTENTION IN AUTISTIC SAVANTS

A dysfunctional attention hypothesis of the basis of savant skills was tested with a series of computerized tasks that assessed the ability to divide, shift, direct, and sustain attention. Ten healthy men with pervasive developmental disorders and unusual calendar-calculating ski ll, and 10 age- and sex-matched controls were tested. There were four general findings. First, the savants and controls did not differ on a measure of visual sustained attention. Second, the savants failed to d etect rare auditory targets significantly more than did the controls. Third, the savants were unable to efficiently divide their attention w hen required to detect both visual and auditory targets simultaneously . Finally, deficient orienting or a deficit in shifting selective atte ntion from one stimulus location to another was evidenced in overall s lower reaction times for the savants across tasks requiring shifts and redirecting of attention. This deficit was attributed to an inability to disengage attention as a result of deficient orienting and oversel ectivity.